Rep. Issa Uses Congressional Hearings To Ask Campaign Donors For Tips On How To Govern

April 18, 2011 5:29 pm ET —
Brian Powell

The House of Representatives is not in session this week,
but Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is keeping members of his House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee working hard with a series of field
hearings taking place in town halls across the country. While the specific topics
vary, the hearings generally revolve around regulatory impediments to job
creation. Issa is using the hearings to solicit testimony from business leaders
about which government regulations they feel are obstructing their ability to
hire and grow, ostensibly so that he can then take action to have these
regulations removed.

Issa's last witness was the CEO of Rivet Software, Patrick
Quinlan, who, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, has not donated
to Issa's campaign. However, Rivet's website has published a post urging
support for legislation sponsored by Issa. Additionally, Quinlan has written a
lengthy op-ed for ColoradoBiz magazine which praises Issa-sponsored legislation.

This isn't the first time Issa has asked his
cronies in corporate America for legislative advice. One of his first tasks as
the new chairman of the Oversight Committee was to collect letters from over
150 business leaders and trade organizations outlining a "hit list" of
government regulations they wanted to see eliminated.